It seems so long ago that Tiki Barber, twin to Tampa Bay Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber, was a likeable figure.

He ripped his former teammate Eli Manning and before that announced his retirement from the New York Giants in the middle of the season, then he embarked on a controversial television career (google NBC’s Jenna Wolfe), only to engage in an ugly affair with a 23-year-old intern which led to a nasty divorce with his wife of 11 years, who happened to be pregnant with twins.

Now, Tiki Barber filed paperwork with the NFL to end his retirement and play in 2011. Barber, who played his last NFL game in the 2007 Pro Bowl game, is still property of the New York Giants.

Barber told Fox’s Jay Glazer that his brother Ronde Barber is the inspiration for his return.

“After seeing my brother still have fun at our age, it re-ignited the fire,” Tiki Barber said. “I’m really looking forward to the challenge of seeing if I can get back to the level of where I was. I started working out again recently. It kind of shocked myself. I still had a lot of the strength I had before. I’m really looking forward to making a return.”

Raise your hand if you believe that statement.

Money issues seems to make more sense for the man who vowed to walk away from football with no regrets. NBC terminated Tiki Barber’s television contract with $300,000 a year due to a moral clause. He claimed he was too broke to pay a divorce settlement to Ginny Barber, mother to his four children. And Barber lived in one of the most expensive states in America, New York. It’s no wonder the guy needs to return to football.

During Tiki Barber’s 10-year career with the New York Giants, he rushed for 10,449 yards and had 5,183 receiving yards. He was inducted into the “Ring of Honor” last season — though it was to a chorus of boos. The Giants won the Super Bowl in 2007, one season after Tiki Barber retired.

The Giants plan to release Tiki Barber as soon as NFL labor negotiations are resolved. So what team would make a great fit for a soon-to-be 36-year-old running back?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks watching from the sidelines during their NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, in Tampa, Fla. Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Brooks and four other high-priced veterans have been released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius, File)

We caught up with NFL analyst Derrick Brooks at ESPN Wide World of Sports for a brief interview and asked him about his thoughts on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ decision to keep veteran cornerback Ronde Barber (forgive the windy audio). Barber, 35, was recently signed to a one-year contract with the Bucs thus giving him some control over how he leaves the game should he decide to retire in the 2013 season.

Brooks, however, was not shown the same kind closure. After netting 11 Pro Bowl appearances for the Bucs, including the 2002 Super Bowl championship, Derrick Brooks was released from the team in 2008. He spent the 2009 season as a free agent and ultimately retired in 2010.

Owners don’t generally exercise much loyalty when veterans age out. It is a business after all. But I like the Bucs decision to keep Ronde Barber for another year here. The leadership he can provide in the locker room can be equally as effective as his statistics.

Aaron Rodgers is making a solid campaign to be the most likable personality in the NFL.

In what must have been his 100th television interview since February, Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers traded playful jokes with his self-professed celebrity crush on the Ellen show Tuesday.

The interview was light, funny and everything you expect from Ellen. However, she did draw out an interesting nugget from Rodgers about his sleep regime the night before the Super Bowl.

Ellen: The night before [the Super Bowl] you can sleep?

Aaron: I had my best night of sleep the night before the Super Bowl.

Ellen: How is that possible?

Aaron: You know what? It was such a long process, two weeks after the end of the NFC championship game. I studied for two weeks on our opponent. By the time I got to Saturday night, I was so tired of watching Pittsburgh film. I felt so good about our game plan that there was nothing to worry about. Usually, laying in bed you might have some doubts, how is this gonna go? I’d already played everything out in my mind and visualized it, studied the game plan, studied the Steelers, that I just had a great night of sleep.

Virginia Detroyers General Manager Doug Williams is heading Louisiana to lead the Grambling State football team according to AOL writer/columnist David Steele. Before taking a job in the UFL, Williams worked in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ front office.

Doug Williams, a former Super Bowl MVP, previously competed for the school from 1974-77 and later succeeded legendary football coach Eddie Robinson as the coach from 1998-2003. During his tenure, Doug Williams led Grambling to consecutive SWAC titles. He will coach his son Doug Williams junior, who competes for Grambling.

“I was looking forward to working with the Destroyers, but this is a great opportunity for me and it is very rare that a father gets to coach his son at the college football level,” Williams said. “ I went to school there, I coached there, and now I have a great opportunity to coach there again.

“I will keep tabs on the Destroyers and know they are going to do well. They have a great fan base in an area that is a football hotbed and the UFL will succeed there.”

Sounds like a great fit for Doug Williams and Grambling. But I wonder if this is a good look for the UFL with so many executives bolting.

In this Pepsi Max “Love Hurts” Super Bowl commercial, a controlling wife is depicted using aggressive force against her husband to curtail his poor eating habits until she realizes he’s drinking a zero calories soda. To his misfortune, he catches the eye of another attractive woman which sparks a violent reaction from the wife. The husband and wife flee the scene after a soda can is accidentally thrown at the bystander instead of the intended target, the husband.

The problem? The controlling wife is a dark-skinned African American woman. The victim is a white woman.

Some believe the commercial has racist undertones and gives a poor portrayal of African American women and black relationships.

But I have to be honest here. As an African American woman, the thought of racist undertones didn’t cross my mind once while watching this.

Maybe I’m missing something here but is it possible the commercial was just funny? Had any other racial group been inserted here and it would have achieved the same effect.

The problem with media images exists when there is no balance. If this had been the only image presented on Super Bowl Sunday of an African American woman or an African American couple, then I’d completely understand. However, one of the first commercials of the day depicted a seemingly happy, functional black couple having their home “redecorated” with a case of Bud Light.

So what do you think of this commercial? Did it cross the line or was it funny?

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady made history this weekend as he became the first NFL player to be unanimously voted the the NFL’s MVP. This is the second NFL MVP award for Tom Brady and he joins Joe Montana as the only two players in NFL history to earn multiple MVP and Super Bowl MVP honors.

On the other hand, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers allegedly shook the 200-plus pound “monkey off his back” otherwise known as Brett Favre by winning Super Bowl XLV. Making his second postseason appearance, Rodgers took his team the entire distance with the difficult task of playing all four games on the road, Super Bowl XLV, of course, being the neutral site.

Two great quarterbacks. Two impressive resumes.

Who doesn’t love what Aaron Rodgers accomplished? The character he displayed for the past two years in what was an ugly public relations nightmare in the divorce of Brett Favre and the Packers was nothing short of classy. His postseason performances (aside from the NFC championship game) have been stellar. Aaron Rodgers played as close to perfect as one possibly can in the Super Bowl with 304 passing yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.

But…

What Tom Brady accomplished this season as an individual was far more impressive than anything anyone else has done in the 2010-11 season. Quite frankly, Brady made a less-than-average New England Patriots team an actual contender for the AFC championship before the meltdown against the New York Jets. And keep in mind all of this came after the Patriots made a midseason trade with one of their top receivers, Randy Moss.

Brady led the NFL with a 111.0 passer rating and had just four interceptions out of 492 attempts and collected 3,900 passing yards, 36 touchdowns in the 2010-11 regular season. Brady had 335 passes without a single interception.

Aguilera flubbed the words about 51 seconds into the song, but attempted to cover the error with what was probably too much vibrato during a unique rendition of a classic song. But her efforts weren’t enough to erase the buzz in the twitter universe once the mistake was made.

Per Cindy Boren of the Washington Post, Green Bay Packers tight end Tom Crabtree even commented on the performance, ” So….. the National Anthem…….uhhhhh. That got awkward.”

The Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to win Super Bowl XLV — their first since 1997.

ESPN radio and television hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic called Christina Aguilera’s rendition “atrocious” and called it an “epic failure” during their entertaining morning radio show Monday morning.

“No matter how well you sang the song, if you get the words wrong it’s irrelevant. But for me, I just couldn’t believe the rendition,” Greenberg said.

Considering the fact that Christina Aguilera is a seasoned professional, it’s a little surprising she fumbled the performance. But reps for the Burlesque star told the Wall Street Journal that she was just nervous.

“I got so caught up in the moment of the song that I lost my place,” the statement read. “I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through.”

Former Buffalo Bills player Darryl Talley at his home in Orlando on Thursday, May 20, 2004. Behind him on the wall is one of his Super Bowl jerseys (PHOTO BY JOHN RAOUX/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

The two biggest days of the NFL are upon us; Super Bowl XLV and the announcement of the 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

We caught up with fan favorite Darryl Talley gave his take on the top five picks of this year’s class (and one bonus pick, DE Richard Dent, because I lost count). Out of a total of 17 finalists, the HOF selection committee picks anywhere from 4-7 athletes for induction. The 2011 Pro Football HOF class will be announced Saturday on the NFL Network.

Darryl Talley has one of the better perspectives on the 2011 HOF class considering he has competed against or with or during the same time period as 14 of the 16 athletes. One of the finalists, Ed Sabol, is the founder of NFL Films.

Talley competed from 1983-1996 making two Pro Bowl appearances, competed in four Super Bowls and led the franchise with 1,137 career tackles.

His top five picks are…

Andre Reed, WR, 1985-99 Buffalo Bills, 2000 Washington Redskins

“I’ve never seen anybody go across the middle and catch a football and run after a catch the way he did. I mean, when Jerry [Rice] got in, I thought it shouldn’t be long before Andre got in. Because for the simple reason [Hall of Fame Bills quarterback]Jim [Kelly] had to throw the football to somebody. He couldn’t hike it to himself, throw it to himself and run it into the endzone,” Talley said with a chuckle.

“He ran exceptionally hard. He ran harder than what most people thought he did. The thing about Curtis Martin is he was a student of the game, he knew what he could do well and what he couldn’t do well. And what he couldn’t do well, he worked really hard at and you have to appreciate that.”

Dermontti Dawson, C, 1988-2000 Pittsburgh Steelers

“He was one of the first centers to be able to snap the ball and pull on the sweep. I mean the only other one that dared to do that was Dwight Stevenson. He would snap the ball in between his legs and beat you to the corner. So yeah, I really think Dermontti is a really, really great center.”

Chris Hanburger, Linebacker, 1965-78 Washington Redskins

“I think he deserves to go in because when you think about the over-the-hill gang, the first person that comes to mind, at least to me, is Chris Hanburger. Because he was the guy that had to play on third down. He was the guy that did a lot of the things I did and I looked at him and thought this guy’s really got everything together, he’s the total package. He can play the run, he can play the pass and he was an undersized linebacker that did it.”

So who do you believe will be inducted into the 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame class?

Making a guest appearance alongside New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, Dan Patrick asked the two if they attended a Super Bowl party in Dallas hosted by Ray Lewis. The conversation from that point took a very interesting turn back to the infamous Ray Lewis hit that knocked off Ochocinco’s helmet back in October 2009.

“I’m looking for Ray. I got some choice words for him.” (Ochocinco)

“I don’t think so. What would you say to him?” (Patrick)

“I don’t know I just want to fight.” (Ochocinco)

“Why you want to right Ray, man?” (Revis)

“I don’t know, it’s just…” (Ochocinco)

“Do this stem back from the Pro Bowl last year?” (Revis)

“No, when he knocked my helmet off. He’s yet to apologize and I still get headaches from that hit.” (Ochocinco)

“Do you want to pop him?” (Patrick)

“Pop him. And if I was at his party I would have probably popped him right there.” (Ochocinco)

I’d still put my money on Ray Lewis to win that imaginary fight. See evidence below.

On a side note, I do think Chad Ochocinco was kidding when he said his pending marriage to VH1 Basketball Wives star Evelyn Lozada would last longer than 23 years — the amount of years Dan Patrick has been married.

The Chad Ochocinco Evelyn Lozada engagement feels like a publicity stunt, but I guess we shall soon see.

mer Buffalo Bills player Darryl Talley at his home in Orlando, Florida on Thursday, May 20, 2004. (PHOTO BY JOHN RAOUX/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

The Super Bowl XLV isn’t the only major sporting event going on this week. Finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be decided by the 44-member selection committee this Saturday.

And if the selection committee is listening to the voice of the fans, then retired Buffalo Bills linebacker Darryl Talley should be a lock.

According to www.fanschoice.com, Darryl Talley leads the Pro Football Hall of Fame votes with a total of 233,901 votes out of the 17 nominees. He outdistanced the second-place vote getter Andre Reed, retired wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, by over 22,000 votes. The lowest amount of votes came in for Ed Sabol, Founder/President/Chairman of NFL Films from 1964-1995.

The 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees will be announced live Saturday on the NFL Network at 7 p.m. ET during a one-hour special live from the Super Bowl Media Center.

This is pretty impressive considering the list of finalists this year include modern names like Jerome Bettis, Marshall Faulk and Deion Sanders. Every year a total of four to seven names are called to join the illustrious Hall of Fame list.